Colonial Tavern Home to the Irish Brigade

The boyfriend and I agree: Best Food, Hands Down! We have enjoyed some great meals in the downtown Fredericksburg area but this was by far the best. He ordered Corned Beef & Cabbage whilst I ordered the Stout Burger with Fries. Both were superb. To be honest, I have always disliked corned beef UNTIL I had it at the colonial tavern. The flavors were unforgettable and juicy. The stout burger was great! However I stole loads of bites of Corned Beef :)
The facility and décor is nice. I wish it had been a bit warmer so we could sit on the patio.
The staff was all friendly. Josh was our bartender/​server and he was sensational. Knowledgeable about the menu items, accommodating and overall the epitome of a kind host.
John came on shift toward the end of our dinner and was also really friendly and great to talk to.
Defo try this place out!

The corned beef is always the best I have ever had!!!

I have been to this restaurant many times and it was just «okay». I like that during nice days I can take my dog and dine outside, but the food is just average bar food… nothing special.
They have some nights where they do music and it gets pretty busy but it’s too loud and scummy people arrive at late hours… just like every bar downtown.

This place is wounderful! I don’t know why it’s not packed out and standing room only! The food is the best and they cater to special needs. It may not «look» like an Irish Bar but it has all the flavor and friendliness of one. We will definitely be back and often!

Nikki!
Thank goodness for review drafts as I’ve kind of whirl-​winded my way around lately and have had occasion to forget more than I remember. But, oh how distinctly I recall this awesome moment.
The moment when, on a road trip — you’re so hungry and you think you’ll have time to stop for a sandwich. Looks like you don’t have time. It’s the lunch rush (not sure though if this town has a huge lunch rush, thankfully) but you call in and not only will the voice on the other end take your order (the lunch special!) she will emerge from the swinging doors of the kitchen with a heaping plate of food, just as you are walking up to the bar! You almost collide with the plate while asking nearly simultaneously «Are you Nikki?» «Is that for me?»
Yes and Yes.
As that plate is set down in front of you, it dawns on you that you just had a synchronized moment. a most unexpectedly well-​choereographed pulled-​pork-​and sweet-​potato-​fry Irish jig of a moment… almost as if you’d wished it upon a lucky clover! It’s the kind of moment that feeds your spirit as you stuff your face. You know?
You glance around and just as expected — a bar, reminiscent of maybe college days or small town… tile floor, wooden bar, tables, a Budweiser clover in green, etc… All the basics, but OH MAN, what a tasty sandwich! And FIVE BUCKS?! With sweet potato fries for no up charge? Every day, Monday through Friday lunch. (And PS — there are other sandwiches from which to choose.)
Long live the Colonial Tavern, Home to the Irish Brigade! That was a damn fine sandwich too, did I mention that? I was in/​out of there in under 10 minutes, with a half sandwich in my tum, a spiritual connectedness renewed (God is in the simple things, right?), and a newly-​replenished Nalgene bottle. (I LOVE when the server sees that you have a vessel and they offer to fill it.)
This place, and Nikki specifically… excellent!

Cheddar ale cheese and pretzels… The pretzels were great! Cheddar ale cheese was very, very bland! Stout burger, I asked for a medium, it came out well done, but it tasted very good, I would go back for it! The potato pancake and the veggies that came with it were great! The husband had fish and chips. I didn’t have any but he said it was good and that’s what he orderes at each Irish pub. Our bartender (I believe his name was Josh) was great, we’d go back just because of him! All in all, we’ll go back and just pick a different appetizer.

The food is good pub food, honestly there was nothing super special about it. The house Chardonnay was very good, as was the beer on tap.

Not sure why this place gets rated so high. Food is bad. Service was weak. Basically a dive bar. Highlight was playing one of the games (Apples to Apples) they had available.

I had the beer battered shrimp, and it delicious. A light tempura batter, nicely fried and well seasoned. My wife had the corned beef sandwich, and again excellently prepared. It was tender, lean and juicy. They carve it well, removing the fat that some places don’t bother to get rid of.

This place is great! Home made pot roast and chips = awesome. Friendly staff and cold beer! A little bit of a dive feel but for sure worth a visit!!! Wish I could have stayed longer.

Yummy! Had the chicken salad sandwich lunch special with onion rings ($ 1 extra). Was weary since it had cranberries in it and I don’t like grapes over powering my chicken salad. Did not over power. Great chicken salad flavor. The onion rings were lightly battered and so delicious. Very happy with the big portion of onion rings.
Hubby had the pot roast open face sandwich and he was very happy. He liked the thick gravy on it as well. Will definitely be back!
*Edit* Came back here a week later. Ordered the same chicken sandwich for both of us. I ordered fries and he did the chips. The chicken salad was good as expected but they toasted some really stale bread for us. It was really tough. :/​WTF? How can you mess up toasted bread? I thought this would be a regular place we’d frequent but I think I need a couple of weeks before I’ll give them another chance.

Just had the pretzel bites with cheddar dipping sauce!!! Awesome! Drinks were okay but a little overpriced. Didn’t like the fact that I didn’t hear one Irish tune the whole time we were here. Lots of AC/​DC music if you like that.

Place is rustic and food is amazing. Cozy yet roomy. Prices are reasonable. They seem to have live music most nights.

Best pub food I’ve had by far! I had homemade shepherds pie which was plentiful and hearty. My friend had chicken salad sandwich on a baguette. She let me try a bite and it tasted fresh and flavorful.
The waitress was helpful and chatty.
Good find in a town we’d only driven through in the past.

Really really yummy food. Like so good you forget to take a picture good. My garlic cheddar burger was cooked perfectly !! And my sweet potato fries had perfect salt. The specials are worth checking out, five dollar lunches !

This not so Irish Pub is more of a bar than a restaurant. The Irish Pub atmosphere/​feel seemed missing. There is a long bar, but there is also plenty of tables for dining. We arrived around 6pm and the place was mostly empty but by 7pm it was full. They had a decent menu of homestyle foods, and an OK selection of beers. We ate the fish & chips and the pot roast. Not much to look at but enjoyable. Service was good, and overall the food was decent and the atmosphere was that of a local bar.
Most interesting was some of the history of the location that I read about online —
There were actually two train stations in Fredericksburg. Neither are still in use as stations and both presently house restaurants. The better known station houses The Bavarian Chef and is right beside the platform where CSX freights, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express commuter run. But just a block to the west along Lafayette Boulevard is the depot of the former Virginia Central Railway. This depot now houses Colonial Tavern. The Colonial Tavern displays memorabilia on the walls related to the former life of this historic building. Started in 1857 and completed in 1877, a 38 mile railway was laid between the towns of Fredericksburg and Orange came to be called the Virginia Central Railway and operated until its abandonment in 1984. For more information about the history of this railway and plans for its re-​development as a public greenway, go to Virginia Central Railway Trail.

Came here for late lunch after touring the A Smith Bowman distillery and reading reviews of the area and local restaurants chose here for lunch. Our waitress Deirdre was STELLAR!!! Prompt, courteous, friendly, great sense of humor… I had the baked crap cake with homemade potato chips which was yummy, husband had the chicken wings and our friends had a burger and chicken salad sandwich everything came out well. Would return again

Had an early dinner with my «Irish» son. We had potato skins (good), Shepard’s Pie (He loved it.) and a burger (Awesome) with onion rings (meh). Food was quick and in the category mentioned above. The burger appeared hand patted and was cooked to perfection (medium like I asked). Onion rings were overcooked and too oily… The building is eclectic and a little raw like much of the ‘berg.
Pretty sure we’ll be coming here again… Will retry the onion rings and see if I can make it a little later for the other impressions…

Incredible food! Made fresh (not frozen) fish and chips are amazing! The Stout burger is on point. The music is always fun and eclectic. The people are always kind and welcoming. The French toast sundae is insane.
…and did I mention how good their fish and chips is!!!

OK place in Old Town Fredericksburg.
Nice to sit on the patio in the summer when the weather is nice… except for when the train comes by and BLOWS the horn… haha!
I met up w/​Michelle for appetizers on a Friday evening.
We had the Crab Dip w/​chips which was quite good.
Had to have a Guinness, a good choice at an Irish pub, eh!